Have a Pirate Christmas!
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IS 145 Jackson Heights, NY
IS 145 Law & Humanities Academy
Kelly Russell (facilitator)
School Year 2008 - 2009
School Year 2008 - 2009
The Adventure Book Club
IS 145 Jackson Heights, NY
Favorite Authors & Series
- Goosebumps & books by RL Stine
- Time Warp Trio
- Books by Ronald Dahl
Cool Television Programs
- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Battlestar Galactica (2008)
- CSI
- Dragonball Z
- Heroes
- Knight Rider
- Kyle XY
- Naruto
- Smallville
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
- Time Warp Trio
Interesting Words and Phrases
walk the plank
Followers
Blog Archive
About Me
- Kelly McNulty
- Ms. McNulty has been in the field of education since 1997 teaching in the elementary as well as secondary level. She has been a ELA lead teacher for three years at IS 145 and filled the post of Teacher Center Specialist in January 2010.
Book Club Meetings
Every Wednesday afternoon (3:40 - 4:25) with Mrs. Russell in Room 356.
Remember to bring your club membership card to prove you're a member.
Remember to bring your club membership card to prove you're a member.
Pirate Lore
NAMES
Why did so many pirates have colorful nicknames like "Blackbeard" and "Half Bottom"? The main reason was to prevent government officials from identifying and persecuting their relatives back home. (How did "Half Bottom" get his nickname? A cannonball shot half his bottom off.)
WALKING THE PLANK
Few (if any) pirate ships ever used "the plank." When pirates took over a ship, they usually let the captured crewmembers choose between joining the pirate crew or jumping overboard. Why go to all the trouble of setting up a plank to walk off? As historian Hugh Rankin put it: "The formality of a plank seems a bit absurd when it was so much easier just to toss a prisoner overboard."
BURIED TREASURE
Another myth. No pirate would have trusted his captain to bury treasure for him. According to pirate expert Robert Ritchie, "The men who turned to piracy did so because they wanted money. As soon as possible after capturing a prize they insisted on dividing the loot, which they could then gamble with or carry home. The idea of burying loot on a tropical island would have struck them as insane."
BOARDING A SHIP BY FORCE
It’s a scene from the movies: A pirate ship pulls up alongside another ship, and then the pirates swing across on ropes and storm the ship. But how realistic is this scene? Not very, experts say. Most ship captains owned their cargos, which were usually fully insured. They preferred to surrender the minute they were approached by a pirate ship, seeing piracy as one of the costs of doing business.
(Source: http://www.neatorama.com/2007/10/22/pirate-lore-7-myths-and-trrrrruths-about-pirates/)
Why did so many pirates have colorful nicknames like "Blackbeard" and "Half Bottom"? The main reason was to prevent government officials from identifying and persecuting their relatives back home. (How did "Half Bottom" get his nickname? A cannonball shot half his bottom off.)
WALKING THE PLANK
Few (if any) pirate ships ever used "the plank." When pirates took over a ship, they usually let the captured crewmembers choose between joining the pirate crew or jumping overboard. Why go to all the trouble of setting up a plank to walk off? As historian Hugh Rankin put it: "The formality of a plank seems a bit absurd when it was so much easier just to toss a prisoner overboard."
BURIED TREASURE
Another myth. No pirate would have trusted his captain to bury treasure for him. According to pirate expert Robert Ritchie, "The men who turned to piracy did so because they wanted money. As soon as possible after capturing a prize they insisted on dividing the loot, which they could then gamble with or carry home. The idea of burying loot on a tropical island would have struck them as insane."
BOARDING A SHIP BY FORCE
It’s a scene from the movies: A pirate ship pulls up alongside another ship, and then the pirates swing across on ropes and storm the ship. But how realistic is this scene? Not very, experts say. Most ship captains owned their cargos, which were usually fully insured. They preferred to surrender the minute they were approached by a pirate ship, seeing piracy as one of the costs of doing business.
(Source: http://www.neatorama.com/2007/10/22/pirate-lore-7-myths-and-trrrrruths-about-pirates/)
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